Column By: JOHN DOUGLAS / RPW – In what was supposed to be another week of virtual racing to entertain race fans during the COVID-19 Pandemic, things went from virtual to very real for Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr.. Wallace was involved in an early dust up with Clint Bowyer and as Bowyer spoke on the television broadcast with commentators Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon it was apparent that even in the virtual world, Bristol has a way of making tempers flare.
Unfortunately, the virtual antics had real world implications for the Richard Petty Motorsports driver, as his race came to an abrupt end on lap nine when he “ragequit” the race’s online server.
This drew the ire of not only fans viewing Wallace’s personal internet stream of his race, but the Executive Vice President of Blue Emu Ben Blessing.
Wallace’s social media post about the incident did not help the matter:
Bahaha I'm dying at my mentions right now…
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) April 5, 2020
I ruined so many peoples day by quiting..a video game..
Bahaha. A video game. Damn quarantine life is rough😂😂😂
This caused the official twitter account of Blue Emu to respond to the situation, and in a very blunt manner:
“GTK (Got to know) Where you stand. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters.”
The spat continued when wallace quoted his initial tweet clarifying that it was indeed a “ragequit.”
It was at that point that Blue Emu posted a .gif image of President Donald Trump saying his infamous catch phrase from the television show he once hosted, “The Apprentice.”
“You’re Fired.”
Blue Emu was also on the car of Landon Cassill for the event and has a separate personal services contract with Richard Petty. Those sponsorships do not appear to be affected currently.
It is unclear what, if any, further punishment could come from Wallace’s behavior on Sunday.
